New Word

This is going to make 3 ladies very happy.

Jammies

My new cozy jammies. I like to kick my blankets off at night but these keep me warm all the way til morning. AND - I sleep all night long without a bottle. I'm a big boy now.


My favorite- a fire truck.

My other favorite- a helicopter!

Sunday afternoon I made the executive decision to wean Dace from his nighttime bottle(s). I had been humming and hawing over it for months and the week prior had woken up several times at night thinking about it. So pull the trigger and get it over with. Whether we do it now or in two months, it's gonna be brutal, right? Wrong! It took Dace all of one day and a total of 14 minutes of crying to adapt and move on. Wow! I am almost ticked that it was so easy for all the fussing and anguish it caused me plotting and scheming over when and how. But that is a big step and I am so very grateful the boy is a superstar and it went so flawlessly. One transition down, two to go. The move to the big boy bed is coming in the new year then adapting to a baby brother the month after. Here's hoping Dace adapts to everything the way he did to this. We are so blessed.

O Christmas Tree- a Ranting by Tovah

The BEFORE shot. This is how the tree looked after we as a family decorated on Friday. Pitiful. Pathetic. Ugly. I hated it! In my raging hormonal state, I think I actually glared at it in disgust. It was ticking me off. Something had to be done!

Ta-da! The AFTER shot. All this for a grand total of $56 @ Michaels. I even tied the bow myself, thanks to a quick tutorial video on youtube. The world of craft knowledge how-to's at your fingertips on that site. It's incredible....But back to my tree.

I could have switched to white lights and used our country christmas theme decor but I knew Dace was in love with all the colors. So I had to find a theme just as playful and colorful to work with the lights. So I chose 'Whoville."
As you can see, the tree is full of bobbles and bobbits, wabbles and waabits. We love it. Most importantly, I love it and the tree receives nothing but adoring glances from its designer. Dallin calls me OCD- Obsessive, Compulsive Decorator. And I admit, guilty as charged. I will spend all day driving all over the city to collect miniscule details to finish a design project once I have started. Thankfully, this one only took 2 trips to Michaels. But lookout for when I start working on the boys room in the upcoming weeks. Oy vey.

Dace caught in the act of de-decorating. Thankfully, this thrill only lasted 2 days. Now he just stands in front of it with his hands folded in front of him looking at the lights. Smart boy. ;)

These are a few of my favorite things....about Dace

I have been thinking alot about this ever-expanding list of favorite things of my sweetums and thought I would post a random sample of them. Plus it gave me an excuse to do a quick photo shoot in his new favorite outfit- the Thomas hoody. He is all things Thomas and trains lately.
1. He loves Orange juice. (see below)
2. He is addicted to popcorn, which he calls "cacong" This could easily be a genetic mutation from the Racicot side after eating popcorn every Sunday night of my childhood.
3. He runs everywhere. (see below)
4. The kid looks good in yellow. This is no easy feat.
5. He calls for dada in the morning, not me. ;)
6. He folds his hands for prayer time.
7. He will dance wherever and whenever if the music moves him. This includes in his chair during church if the sacrament hymn is especially appealing that day.
8. His word for choo-choo is bap-baaaap and he gleefully calls it out whenever he sees a train.
9. He gives my tummy the best zurberts and says 'brodo' (aka brother)
10. He loves to snuggle, give hugs and sweet little kisses.
11. He tells me when he wants to/ready to go to bed.
12. He gives the cutest little flirty eyes to any girl or woman he thinks is pretty.
13. He loves peppermint as well as chocolate. Therefore the two of us will be consuming many an Andes mint this holiday season.
14. When he sees me loading up the kitchenaid to bake something, he runs over to his highchair, pushes it over to the counter and wants up to stand on the seat and watch.
15. He quietly sits and plays with his tupperware cupboard while I cook.
16. He reaches for my hand whenever we are walking side by side.
17. He loves to do puzzles and is really good at them. He will sit with the same two and do them over and over again, for up to half an hour.
18. He claps his hands when a player gets the daily double on Jeopardy.
19. He has been oohing and awwing over the christmas tree ever since I redecorated. AKA- he validates my OCDness.
20. As much as he loves his snuggli (and boy does he LOVE that little blanket) he will bring it over and give it to me when he knows I'm not feeling well.

Oh how I love my sweetums!!!

Self-Sufficiency Is So Satisfying!

One case of ripe tomatoes- FREE from a friend.

Fresh garlic, onions, parsley and basil- $3.50

Being able to stock the freezer with 8 containers of homemade tomato sauce- PRICELESS.

In other news- we put up the tree this morning. As soon as the lights were on and lit up, Dace ooed and awed then crawled under for a little snuggle. He insisted I join him. When he saw it lit up tonight after dark, he got all giggly and chatty trying to express his amusement. It's going to be a good Christmas.

Turkey Day

My contribution to dinner- pecan, cherry and pumpkin pies. They were all amazing if I do say so myself. I also made parker house rolls, sweet potatoes and dressing but those aren't much to photograph.

Our lovely dining table. Val is such a great hostess, complete with place settings!

Our handsome boy. See the little dog Teddy? Dace LOVES him!

Dace was kind of over the whole turkey bone thing this year. He graduated to eating the actual turkey. Pretty sure he had more meat than I did and ate it faster than I could cut it into pieces.


We are grateful for amazing weather (we had 85F today), good friends, great food, a growing family and happiness. We had a great day. Happy thanksgiving.

"Nothing new can come into your life without an attitude of gratitude."
-The Secret

27 weeks

This baby boy is trying desperately to stretch out in there. He doesn't seeem too happy with having to be folded up in such a small space. It will be interesting to see when his impatience gets the better of him and how early he checks out. I think it will be before Valentine's Day but who knows. I was totally off with my 'feeling' about when Dace would arrive so I am not putting too much emphasis on it this time. Either way, he is strong and healthy and a great kicker!